Histology Results

First, a warning; there’s some unexpurgated information about brain tumours here, including prognosis. It comes further down, under the Resultheading. It’s the kind of information that I didn’t want to know for sure at the start, although I did have some idea. It’s also the kind of information that I can’t resist forever. I’ve always wanted to know things, to find out. I’d balk at the thought of being completely in the dark; my paternal grandfather in the 1960s was never told that the illness that killed him was cancer. So there ensued a game of charades which from what I’ve been told involved various efforts to avoid upsetting my grandmother (a strong and capable woman) and various others, including my grandfather who was clearly dying and who said to my mother at one point of course you and I both know what I’ve got.

My grandfather was a man who’d grown up in extreme poverty and violence; he was one of eight children whose father had lost a leg in World War One; he and his brothers would go to school via the soup kitchen in Plymouth for their only meal of the day. He worked his way to Australia on a ship aged 14, spent a couple of years on a sheep ranch, and returned to Devon to join the police, where he attained the rank of Superintendent. He was 6’5” tall, always smartly-dressed, hard-drinking, charming, tough to the core, and funny. A few years ago I was called to an elderly Plympton man, who I took to hospital in the rapid response car. He’d been an apprentice barber around the time of the war, and it turned out my grandfather Jack Roper used to go to that barber’s for his haircut, where he’d always spoof the barber for the cost; sounds about right said my Dad when I told him. A man who knew life.

That pressure is on everyone. What an odd notion, that you are protecting people from accepting, understanding, planning, tying up loose ends. Isn’t that opportunity a golden one? It’s denied those for whom death comes suddenly, but I’d argue it’s a chance to prioritise, consider what’s important, right a few wrongs. I spoke to a few people I felt I needed to clear misunderstandings and arguments with (one contacted me) after being diagnosed, because each was a little thorn that I held and I couldn’t let them fester. It was a good thing to do and I’m glad I had the chance. Of course I’m an extravert who communicates – I say what I think, I discuss, I’ll talk about more or less anything. Many people are more private. Atul Gawande talks about that, and around the end of life it’s about identifying what is important to you. For that to be easy, those closest to you also need to understand and it’s one of the difficulties with the crisis management of end of life, how others respond and what kind of process is kicked off; Gawande talks of end of life patients being maintained in intensive care right to the end in the US, which is of course utterly futile, and horrible too. Avoiding the acceptance of death (and ageing) is an art form in our culture. Each important person in your life will go through the process of accepting your death in her or his own way, and at their own speed. But the conversation has to be had in some form, and your wishes have to be made clear.

I’ve had a few message conversations about death with kindred spirits from Facebook whom I don’t know personally. Isn’t that odd? Or is it? As one says, maybe it’s harder to talk about your feelings with people you feel responsible for – certainly that was how I felt today, leaving my parents in the café while I got the news, then relaying it over tea and lemonade afterwards. But they knew the score, and I felt I had to process the information myself without worrying about how they were taking the news. So the protection instinct is there, modified.

I’ve slightly diverged from talking about prognosis; I imagine some would rather not know in anything other than vague terms, and since there are no definites in game of percentages, median survivals and averages, that would appear to be a reasonable strategy to take. I already know the prognosis for metastatic breast cancer, and of course there are many variables there according to where the mets (what Mr F calls seedlings) lodge in your body and so on. I looked up the GBM4 a couple of weeks ago, peering at the information rather as the babysitter in a 1970s slasher film peers around the basement door to investigate a noise. It was the point where I felt I needed to know.

Result

I’m sitting in Fal in the bay again, waiting for Mr Fewings, and Louise Davies the neuro oncology nurse. I chat to a woman awaiting breast cancer surgery; she’s having the same kind of op that I had first time around, in January 2011. Full circle. I don’t mention that this might be related. We talk about the surgery, and about the woman’s grandchildren. Finally, Louise appears and calls me in.

It’s a small room, white cement, metal windows. I sit in a black chair by the desk.

We begin with how I feel, the weakness and the strange numb/burning patch on my leg. The weakness is steroid related, classic. It’s no longer predominantly left sided, and the upper arms and thighs are most affected. Mr F also notes I’ve put on a noticeable amount of weight since he last saw me, in the classic steroid pattern, and related also to the effects of a significant dose of dexamethasone over six weeks or so. My cheeks are so swollen they’ve gone numb. The leg is a nerve problem, which he demonstrates. It’s a nerve that crosses the bulge in one’s gut over the pelvis, and it can become stretched. It enervates precisely that area. It’s the side I’ve been lying on, and makes total sense. So I’m glad to know that’s not Hunt-related. I’m to reduce the dexamethasone as of tomorrow, 4mg in the morning and 2mg at lunchtime over a week, then 2mg and 2mg. That should improve how I feel in myself, reduce the effects and improve the weakness.

The nausea I had intermittently shortly after reducing the dose last time can be treated with Ondansetron if I need it, thus avoiding upping the dexamethasone again.

Now we move to the results.

I asked to record the meeting on my iPhone, so what follows is the transcript with some extraneous phrases removed. I didn’t listen to it again till this morning, and what’s really interesting is that, despite being focussed and concentrating, I actually got a couple of key points wrong on asking Plum to spread the news. Then from Plum’s post there were a range of interpretations, some of which I think missed the negatives altogether. The lesson is clear; no matter what your interest, you hear some things that haven’t been said, you miss some things that have been said, and you read the message in your own way. (Of course there are implications there for informing those close to you about your wishes as I’ve been discussing)

So my cancer discussions are going to be recorded from now. Back to Mr Fewings.

He’s matter of fact, and talks clearly; we had already discussed the two options after the surgery so I am prepared.

I’m expecting this to be metastasised breast cancer.

It’s not.

It’s a Glioblastoma (WHO Grade 4), abbreviated to GBM4, an aggressive, primary brain tumour. This is the one that most people thought Hunt was not.

It’s 45mm x 30mm x 23mm.

Mr F:

Usually with a glioblastoma there’s an area which is obviously the tumour… and then around that is a patch and a rim of obvious tumour, intertwined with areas of brain, and then as you get away from the tumour there’s still patches of tumour, and then microscopic rootlets through a widespread area.

[He’s drawing a diagram as he speaks; there is a lot of scribbling].

Yours however looking on the scan and from the operation, was very well demarcated with a clear plane and so the main bulk of it, phhhhp! has plopped out.

So because it is a glioblastoma, you will still have to be managed as per the glioblastoma, which is chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

But with respect to your prognosis I would expect and hope that it would be better than the average, because it’s all been removed, with the caveat that it won’t have all been removed there will still be some microscopic rootlets.

Better than average means half the people do worse than average and half the people will do better than average. But I expect you to be in the good half rather than the bad half.

Unfortunately this problem, despite this being removed, is incurable.

The treatments are aimed at keeping you as well as you are now for as long as possible.

Without treatments, it’s likely that this disease process would take your life within a number of months, maybe six months plus or minus a wee bit, but with treatment your life should be considerably longer than that, say add on about another year…and as I’ve said hopefully in your case maybe even longer than that.

I ask Mr F about the oedema and the blood brain barrier, as I’d read that oedema constitutes a failure in the blood brain barrier. So is there cancer all around my brain?

No, just the tumour site, that’s all.

I ask about the tumour; the fact that it’s grade 4 is the most important information, because that describes its high level of aggressiveness.

I ask for and am given a copy of the histology report.

We briefly discuss radiotherapy which should be over 6 weeks with a tablet chemotherapy drug called temozolomide alongside. On Thursday morning I have an outpatient’s appointment with my oncologist who is, Dr Sarah Pascoe. She will go over the plan, discuss the options, and then most likely the planning will start so I’m to look forward to spending a few hours at the hospital. Louise my nurse tells me that fatigue is the main side effect of brain radiotherapy. Mr F says there may be an indicator for stereotactic boost as it’s well-defined, so more focused radiotherapy is a possibility.

I feel I have enough to think about at this stage, ready for my appointment with Dr Pascoe who is the expert.

I then ask Mr F about the lung nodules, which showed on the CT scan and which was a part of the reason I was drawn to the idea that Hunt was a met from my breast cancer. That and the bad luck of having two unrelated types of cancer within 5 years. Is there a god?

Whilst they noted them, a 3mm nodule and a 5mm ground glass nodule, it was noteworthy but of no major concern. However if this had turned out to be a seedling tumour, they would be other seedlings, but because this has turned out to be what it is I’m happy to ignore that. Also you have the abdominal lymph nodes related to your microscopic disease, the gut stuff.

At your operation when it was removed I said, ‘ah it’s going to be a met’ and the others though the same. About 1 in 20 are like this, and as I say they do tend to do better than average because the main bulk has been removed. If one can remove about 90% of the main mass of it that does confer some benefit, and with respect to the actual area of abnormality, 99.9% of yours has been removed.

Me: So that’s as good as it can be really.

Mr F: Absolutely yeah. So it’s not great news, of course it’s not, I’m not going to pretend it is…

Me: Yes I was ready for that, I knew it wasn’t. It’s nice to know it’s got a positive to it than just being shit and more shit.

Mr F: Indeed! You are well, no cognitive problems or neurologic problems, you’re a bit crap at the moment if you excuse the expression – courtesy of steroids which we’re happy to reduce down – and you’re seeing Dr Pascoe on Thursday for a plan of action for your other treatments.

I thank Mr Fewings and the other staff who have been excellent.

So in summary:

Only around 1:20 GBM4s is demarcated from normal brain tissue in the way that Hunt was. 99.9% of the tumour was therefore removed. A very good result for the more usual GBM4 would be to remove 90% of it.

Hunt is surrounded by an area of microscopic tumour rootlets, which can be treated by radiotherapy and chemotherapy in tablet form; potentially some more focused radiotherapy can be used in this case.

With no treatment, I would expect to live only 6 months, give or take.

The median survival for a GBM4 is one year. 50% of patients will live for less, 50% for longer.

I am expected to be on the longer side, which could mean 18 months, or even more. There are no guarantees.

So my news wasn’t as I’d expected at all. As Mr Fewings said: you never know.

I feel slightly shell shocked, suddenly tired, and half relieved by the thought that what remains of Hunt can be irradiated and chemically shrivelled, with of course my shrivelling prayer joining the fray. I feel some visualisation coming on particularly after a funny message last night in which kneecapping featured for the real Hunt. Now I see Hunt the tumour as the Cheshire Cat’s ghostly smirk. You haven’t got rid of me yet, he leers. I see the smirk exploding in stars with stereotactic rads and some blue stuff that burns, forms an acrid, fizzing smog and makes him cry. Sometimes only vicarious violence makes me feel better.

For now, Louise and I head to another office, and she runs through my folder of information. I can plan and monitor everything using the folder, including my food intake, signs and symptoms and pretty much anything else I can think of, but I suspect I won’t if past form is any indicator. Louise ensures I’m ok, explains the steroid reduction for about the fourth time, and points out that she’s written it in my folder. The page is cleverly marked. Now it’s a case of allowing everything to sink in, and preparing for the oncology appointment.

I am glad to know what’s what, even relieved. Of course few of us knows when or how we’ll die though I can probably predict with more accuracy than most that I’ll be dying of smirking Hunt as he re-materialises, sooner rather than later.

I think of some of those sudden deaths I’ve been to as a paramedic; the young lad driving home from work on a Friday, losing concentration momentarily, thinking about his night out perhaps, and clipping the verge. Hanging from the car, still alive but I can’t reach him and I doubt he’ll survive. I talk to him, touch his shoulder, chat about all sorts and tell him he’ll be okay while the fire fighters get him out. I hope he doesn’t know what’s happening but if he does he’s not alone.

The elderly man, a non-injury fall, sat on the floor next to his bed at 3am, unable to get up. I’m not a happy bear, I’ve not been a happy bear all day… as we lift him he goes into cardiac arrest. His wife knew he was going she says.

And the baby, handed to me by a woman whose eyes beg me to help, while they know it’s too late. I see the tiny mouth, blanched almond white from attempts to breathe life back; the little nub at the centre of the lower gums where the ghosts of tiny teeth will never appear, the minute finger nails, dark blue.

The unhappy bear knew he was about to die. The baby just stopped breathing in its sleep, warm, fed, loved. The young man? Maybe an oh shit and disbelief, the terror. And the loved ones…

I’m still not dreaming. I don’t have nightmares, or terrors. I wake each morning in the early hours thinking about my illness. But I don’t dream. Why aren’t I dreaming? Or why aren’t I registering the dreams I have?

My fear, the slasher in the basement, is that I am going to lose my mind after all.

Guided to your blog by a mutual friend I have at times felt like a nosey curtain twitching neighbour looking to see what happens next as you pass by my window…. you see I’m a total stranger. Strangers can care greatly too of course as I’ve found myself doing reading your innermost thoughts, so please hang in there, continue to grab ahold of life and know we’re out here doing our best to take even just a few steps in spirit beside you on your journey.
One Hunt down , one to go!

So difficult to know what to say – my mum had a brain tumour, I have no idea what type, but it was very aggressive. She never lost her brains, just her movement. Thinking of you Lynne, keep writing – it’s fabulous. Xx

Thanks Jane, so many people seem to have been touched by brain tumours of one type or another.
I think it’s down to luck(!) as to which functions you lose. I have to wait and see in which area Hunt decides to reappear.
xx

Dear Lynne, thank you for sharing your appointment, and your results, with us; it’s seemed a long time since your previous blog and the wait has been anxious. This is a presumptuous statement from someone like me on the farthest extremities of your universe, but as I’ve said before you have a whole ‘galaxy’ of friends and acquaintances who care about you, and the bedevilled Hunt more than you could imagine. I guess that you were taking time to process what you had been told, and to spend time with your family and friends; getting your mind to accept what your brain had absorbed.
Now you know just what you have to take on, how this battlefield will form up, you have your armoury in place, and a host of supporters at your back. Go out there and give it hell Lynne.
Love and prayers. Mx

Thank you Mary.
I write something every day, but it doesn’t necessarily get blogged because – as with this one – it was some detail, then I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. So I waited, and then wrote when it came.
There was a lot of action at the start of the story too, and a lot of catching up.
Love xx

Hello Lynne from Canada
I am so sorry to hear your news. I am writing to let you know my husband was dx. March 2009 with a GBM left temporal lobe. He had a complete resection followed by six weeks chemo/radiation. He had a recurrence December 2011 followed by another resection and six months chemo. We received the same statistical prognosis as you did but I am happy to be report seven years later he is still alive and doing well. You just never know what will happen.
All the best to you (weaning off the decadron is a bugger!)
Wendy

Hi Wendy, thanks so much for your message and I’m really glad to hear your husband has done so well..
I suppose the lesson is to live while you can, and try to stick with the now as much as possible. As you say, you never know.
Bleddy dex is horrid! Just dropped another 2mg, and starting to feel almost unweak…

Lynne, I have been reading through your blog again and am in no less awe of you than I was before. I love your wonderful writing and I admire this particular post all the way from the picture to the end, with your ability to stand back and contexualise your situation, with insight and humanity. We have not met, but I think about you when swimming in the lake. Hope you are getting some swimming in (accompanied as directed of course!).